Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-04-15
MnAATEp.


man Of eeala. and Ills WIFE.
.rhe lady WHO was lei'y'
fsaid this inquiringly aud doubt
fully,
40. no, replied my friend, II said
the lady on his left, She Is his wife.
It was at theatre. We had been
discussing afamons man ofgenius who
occupied n conspicuous seat aud had
asked about his wife. When the lady
was pointed out to me ! suddenly iost
all interest in the husband.
Ala! hal" laughed my companion.
"Your mistake was a good one.
"What mistaken" !,
"Why your Characterization OF
Mrs. "a as the lady who was lett.
I don't think she would like it much.
| said nothing, and glanced
aoain at the sweet-faced wo-
man who looked so lonely III
the midst of that lieht-hearted crowd.
The husband was rot lonely. He had
everything he wanted except o mirror.
Not having one, he passed with due
regard for spectacular effect, and was
happy The expression on his lace
seemed to say: II know it ~ trying
to the complexion, this fierce white
LIGHT that beats upon the throne, but
Pve got to stand it. 1t is one OF the
nenaIties OF greatness" He never
looked at the woman with the tender.
luminous eyes by his side, He did
not see that like some fair and fragile
flower she seemed to wilt under the
fierce white light. Perhaps he did not
care.
"Yes, I said to myself, "she is the
lady who was left"
The play went on, and whenever
there was telling hit the spectators
looked at the strangely brilliant man
who was among them but
not of them. Watching the lights
and the shadows OF that mobile, mag
netic face they applauded or relapsed
into stolid Indifference, running the
entire gamut OF expression. But no.
body looked at the quiet lady who
shuddered under every shock sound,
and seemed to shrink from every fresh
impulse OF glare.
After that night at the theatre Isaw
my lady who was .eft many times and
in many places. 1t would not be said
that her husband condemned her to
seclusion. On the contrary he took
her everywhere. Ii he was lavish III
the matter OF his own personal adorn-
ment. he urged his wife to deny herself
nothing II it delighted him to pose
us the central figure in a field OF cloth
of gold, stiff with gorgeous embroidery
| lie was determined that his wife should
not lack for Tyrian purple, so to
| speak, and diamonds that would have
graced a coronet. Why shouldn't she
be u happy woman? Her costumes
were extravagantly compared to SYM
phonies and poems.
But she was not happy. In the
midst OF all the excitement accom-
panying the spectacular pageantry OF
| her husbands life she knew that she
was left. Why indulge i'll any non
sense about her failure to grow with
her husband and keep pace with him
Intellectually? 1t would be stupidity,
brutally false to say such q thing. She
was born to be the queen OF an ideal
home and to hold solely sovereign
sway over one iledTl. DuU Her lluS'
band had divided his affections be-
tween her and the many-headed
monster thing called the public, and
their home life had been turned into q
gilded tumult.
still see these two on public occa-
sions. A shadow is beginning , dark.
en- the husbands face. He ieo.s that
life is growing stale and fiat. Just
why, he cannot tell. He knows that
it is not the fault of his loyal wife, but
there is something wrong somewhere
Perhaps there is just the suspicion Of
Il shadow on the fair face of the lady
who was left. 1t suggests a sorrow in
which self plays no part. The tleetinl
years carry her in the direction OF q
nobler, higher life, and she feels that
she is travelling the road alone.
have ceased to study these two faces
The lady who was left is getting be
You'd me. cannot say as much fol
her husband. He is still in sight, and
likely to remain there.-Atlanta Con
stitution.